The Cost of Masking
The Burnout Loop
The Sprint & Crash Body: You can pull off a miracle at work, hyper-focusing for 10 hours straight. But the moment you stop, you collapse. You oscillate between "Superhuman" and "Can't move from the sofa."
The "Basic" Struggle
Executive Dysfunction Body: "Why can everyone else do this?" You run a company or a department, yet opening the mail, booking a dentist appointment, or doing laundry feels like climbing Everest.
The Sensory Tax
Sensory Overwhelm Body: It’s not just "stress." The supermarket lights, the texture of clothes, or the hum of the fridge can physically hurt. You aren't being difficult; your nervous system is raw.
The Emotional Amplifier
Rejection Sensitivity (RSD) Body: A slightly vague email or a change in tone from a friend doesn't just annoy you—it devastates you. You feel physical pain from perceived criticism or rejection.
It Wasn't "Laziness." It Was Exhaustion.
For most of your life, you may have believed that your struggles were a moral failing. You told yourself that if you just tried harder, bought the right planner, or woke up earlier, you would finally be "consistent."
But you cannot shame yourself into better executive function.
​
If you are reading this, you are likely running a high-performance operating system in a world designed for a completely different machine. You haven't been failing; you have been over-compensating. You have been sprinting just to keep up with everyone else’s walking pace.
​
The "High-Functioning" Mask
To survive, you developed a strategy: The Mask of Competence. To the outside world, you look organised, perhaps even hyper-efficient during a crisis. But they don't see the cost. They don't see the crash that happens the moment you close your front door. They don't see the sheer amount of energy it takes to suppress your impulses, force eye contact, or filter out the overwhelming sensory noise of daily life.
You aren't suffering because you are "broken." You are suffering because you are performing "normality" at a cost your nervous system can no longer afford.
​
Standard therapy often tries to "fix" you—to teach you better coping skills so you can fit into the neurotypical box. That doesn't work here.
Our work is Neuro-Affirming. This means we stop trying to force your brain to work like everyone else's. Instead, we learn the user manual for your specific mind. We move from a place of constant self-correction to a place of understanding, building a life that works with your natural flow, not a war against it.
Moving from Correction to Compassion
Areas of Neurodivergent Focus
-
Late-Diagnosis Integration: Grieving the years you spent thinking you were "broken" and understanding your history through a new lens.
​
-
Autistic Burnout: Recovery for when the "mask" finally slips and you have zero energy left.
​
-
Executive Dysfunction: Practical, non-shaming strategies for the "starting," "stopping," and "switching" of tasks.
​
-
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD): Managing the intense, physical pain of perceived criticism or rejection.
​
-
Sensory Regulation: Building a lifestyle that respects your nervous system’s limits (so you don't crash every evening).
​
-
The "Double Empathy" Problem: Navigating relationships where communication styles clash.
You Don't Have to Do This Alone
This mask is heavy. You can put it down.
Neuro-affirming therapy for adults who are ready to stop fighting their own brains and start living with them.
Bristol, Bath, Leicester, St Albans and Nottingham. Online Therapy: Available worldwide.
Request a no obligation, no cost conversation